Toy hill-climbing system

ABSTRACT

A toy hill-climbing system is disclosed including a simulated motorcycle, a motorcycle launcher, a roadway simulating rough terrain and parallel tracks connecting the roadway and the launcher. The roadway is placed at a greater vertical height than the launcher so that the tracks are upwardly sloped to simulate an actual motorcycle hill climb competition.

United States Patent 1191 Merino et a1.

Oct. 2, 1973 TOY HILL-CLIMBING SYSTEM Inventors: Dennis H. Merino, ElDorado Hills; Joseph H. Bales, Huntington Beach; Denis V. Bosley, PalosVerdes Peninsula; Brian S. Prodger, Torrance; Kurt Ruppel, RedondoBeach; Floyd E. Schlau, Palos Verdes Estates, all of Calif.

Mattel, Inc., Hawthorne, Calif.

May 22, 1972 Assignee:

Filed:

Appl. No.: 255,741

Related U.S. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 99,084, Dec. 17,1970, Pat. No. 3,696,555.

U.S. Cl. 46/202 Field of Search 46/201, 202; 243/86 R [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,352,251 11/1967 Einfalt 273/86 R 3,584,4106/1971 La Londe 46/201 3,548,534 12/1970 Beny et al. 46/201 K PrimaryExaminer-Antonio F. Guida Assistant ExaminerRobert F. CuttingAttorneySeymour A. Scholnick [57] ABSTRACT A toy hill-climbing system isdisclosed including a simulated motorcycle, a motorcycle launcher, aroadway simulating rough terrain and parallel tracks connecting theroadway and the launcher. The roadway is placed at a greater verticalheight than the launcher so that the tracks are upwardly sloped tosimulate an actual motorcycle hill climb competition.

7' Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PATENIEUUBT ems SHEET 6 [IF 6 TOYHILL-CLIMBING SYSTEM This application is a division of application Ser.No. 99,084, filed Dec. 17, 1970 now US. Pat. No. 3,696,555 dated Oct.10, 1972, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION:

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toy systemhaving a vehicle and a path for the vehicle and, more particularly, to atoy system for simulating a motorcycle hillclimbing competition.

2. Description of the Prior Art Motorcycle hill-climbing is a sport thathas been practiced for a good many years with somewhat scant publicattention; however, with the rapidly increasing popularity ofmotorcycles, the sport of motorcycle hillclimbing has also becomepopular. In order to satisfy the desires of children to participate inthis exciting sport, efforts were attempted to simulate motorcyclehill-climbing in a toy structure.

A major problem to overcome in the attempted simulation is the design ofa system which is realistic enough to capture the thrilling features ofmotorcycle hillclimbing and yet may be effectively and efficientlymanufactured so as to be inexpensively mass marketed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned problem has been obviatedby the present invention which provides a toy hill-climbing systemcomprising a toy vehicle launcher; at least one track section connectedto the launcher; and a roadway simulating rough terrain connected to thetrack section and positioned at a greater height than the launcher, atleast a portion of the track section having an upwardly slopingdisposition. The invention further includes a roadway comprising acurved pathway having a first end at a level different from the level ofa second end; and means for supporting the curved pathway with its endsat different levels, the supporting means being integral with the curvedpathway and made of synthetic resin material, whereby toy vehicles aremoved along the pathway from one level to the other level by the forceof gravity. Further, the present invention includes a support and tracksection connector comprising a first portion for engaging a tracksection and a second portion disposed essentially perpendicular to thefirst portion and connected at one end to the first portion, the secondportion having a U-shaped second end whereby the connector cooperates tosupport the roadway and connect the roadway to a track section. Stillfurther, the present invention includes a toy vehicle comprising avehicle body; at least two large wheels mounted to the body; a baseremovably attached to the vehicle body; and four small freely rotatablewheels mounted to the base, two wheels on each side of the base, wherebythe toy vehicle is movable along a track system on the four small wheelsand the large wheels are spaced from the track system. Also included inthe invention is a toy vehicle launcher comprising a supporting baseincluding a pathway; a pusher arm slidably connectedto the supportingbase and movable along the pathway; an elastic band connected to thesupporting base and to the pusher arm for imparting motion to the pusherarm; and means for latching the pusher arm to selectively preventmovement of the pusher arm.

It is a general aim of the present invention to provide a toy systemwhich simulates the sport of motorcycle hill-climbing and which can beinexpensively manufactured for mass marketing.

An allied object of the present invention is to provide a toy roadwaywhich simulates a real roadway through a hilly terrain, which iscollapsible to a compact size for facilitating transportation, handlingand packaging and which is inexpensively manufactured.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a connector whichsupports the roadway in a noncollapsed position, which connects andaligns a track section and the roadway and which is inexpensivelymanufactured.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a toyvehicle which moves easily along a track and- /or roadway system, whichsimulates a motorcycle and which may be inexpensively manufactured.

A further aim of'the present invention is to provide a toy vehiclelauncher which is simply constructed, inexpensively manufactured andeasily used by a child, and which provides sufficient force to a toyvehicle to propel the vehicle up a steep incline.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear fromthefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective partiallybroken away view fo a toy hill-climbing system.

FIG. 2 is a perspective partially sectional view of a toy vehiclelauncher.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevational sectional view taken along line 33 ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged elevational sectional view partially broken awayof the launcher of FIG. 2 and illustrating a toy vehicle positioned onthe launcher.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the toy vehicle illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the toy vehicle ofFIG. 4 taken along line 66 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the roadway illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view partially broken away of the roadwayillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 7 taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an elevational view partially in dotted line illustrating thecollapsed position of the roadway shown in'FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged elevational sectional view of a portion of theroadway taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged elevational sectional view of the roadway of FIG.7 as viewed along line 11-11 of FIG. 7 and, including an example of thetrajectory taken by a moving toy vehicle.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a support and track section connectorwhich is used in conjunction with the roadway of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT While the present invention issusceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions,illustrative embodiments are shown in the drawings and will herein bedescribed in detail. It should be understood, however, tyat it is notthe intention to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed;but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications,equivalents and alternative constructions falling within the spirit andscope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Referring now to FIG. I, there is illustrated a toy hillclimbing system20, including a toy vehicle launcher 22 and a roadway 24 which issituated on a table 26 so as to be at a greater vertical height than thelauncher 22. Connecting the launcher and the roadway are two paralleltracks 28 and 30; a return track 32 is connected to the roadway and maydirect a vehicle back to the vicinity of the launcher or to anadditional track layout. The launcher has provision for launching twotoy vehicles, one each along the tracks 28 and 30 so as to allowcompetition races up the tracks to the roadway. The roadway includes amerger portion (which will be described more clearly hereinbelow) sothat the vehicles moving along each of the tracks 28 and 30 merge tomove along the same pathway through the roadway. The tracks may beidentical or similar to those described in United States Pat. No.3,487,999 to A. W. B. Nash, et al., and assigned to the assignee of thepresent invention.

It is to be understood that while the preferred embodiment describedherein is contemplated for a motorcycle-type toy vehicle, thehill-climbing system may be used to handle other types of toy vehiclessuch as small racing automobiles; for example, like that described inUnited States Pat. No. 3,510,981 to H. W. La Branche et al., andassigned to the assignee of the present invention.

In accordance with one of the important aspects of the presentinvention, provision is made for launching toy vehicles in a simple andexpeditious fashion by a launcher which is simply constructed andinexpensively manufactured and which is exceedingly easy to use so thateven a small child may act as an operator. In addition, the launcher isconstructed to provide sufficient force to a vehicle to propel it alonga relatively steep upwardly sloping track; the launcher may be operatedto propel a single vehicle or two vehicles in side by side racingcompetition. Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the toy vehicle launcher22 comprises a molded synthetic resin base 34 having two preformedpathways 36 and 38 disposed parallel to one another. Slideable along thepathway 36 is a vehicle engaging pusher arm 40 while slideable along thepathway 38 is a vehicle engaging pusher arm 42. Since both pathways areidentically constructed as are the pusher arms, only the pusher arm 40will be described in greater detail.

The pusher arm 40 includes an elongated base element 44 which isattached to a hook portion 46 at one end of the base element and anupright vehicle engaging wall 48 at the other end. The wall 48, in turn,is attached integrally to a flange portion 50 which cooperates with anactivating latch mechanism 52 described in more detail hereinbelow.Connected to the hook portion 46 is an elastic band 54 which may be anordinary rubber band looped around the hook portion at one end, directedaround a depending pin 55, and looped around a T-shaped lug 56 at thebands other end. The T-shaped lug 56 is attached to a control shaft 58and a knob 60. The shaft 58 is constrained to be rotatable relative thesupporting base so that the elastic band 54 may be wound about the shaftto increase tautness. A lower portion 62 of the shaft is restrained in ajournal manner by an annular bearing 64 which is integral with a lowersurface 66 of the supporting base. The upper portion 68 of the shaft isrestrained by an upper surface 70 of the supporting base. The knob 60projects above the upper surface 70 and is easily grasped to rotate theshaft to cause the desired tautness in the elastic band. The greater thetautness of the elastic band, the greater will be the biasing force onthe pusher arm.

Restraining the biasing force of the elastic band is the activatinglatch mechanism 52. The activating mechanism includes an elongated armportion 72 which is integral with the supporting base 34, but hinged sothat the latch mechanism is movable as shown in FIG. 4 from the positionillustrated in solid line to the position illustrated in dotted line.The elongated arm portion 72 includes a depressor surface 74 which givesan operator convenient access to depress the latch mechanism with athumb or forefinger. At the end of the elongated arm opposite thatintegral with the supporting base is a hook portion 76 which isengageable with the flange portion 50 of the pusher arm. As shown inFIG. 4, when the pusher arm 50 is in its rearward position indicated bythe dotted lines of the flange 50, and the latching mechanism 52 is inits upward or horizontal position as shown in solid line, the pusher armis restrained from moving. However, when a force is placed on thedepressor surface 74, such as by an operators finger, the latchingmechanism 52 pivots to the position shown in dotted line, therebyreleasing the flange 50 and allowing the pusher arm to be moved to theleft (as depicted in FIG. 4) due to the biasing force exerted by theelastic band.

As viewed in FIG. 4, leftward movement of the pusher arm will continueuntil a leading end portion 78 of the pusher arm strikes a depending lip80 extending from the upper surface of the pathway 36. The end portion78 also engages the toy vehicle. Thus, the toy vehicle, such as amotorcycle 82, is catapulted by the launcher with a force proportionalto the tautness of the elastic band. It is to be noted that the toyvehicle may be pushed by the wall 48 if the vehicle is an automobile or,as mentioned, by the leading end portion 78 in the motorcycle embodimentillustrated and explained in more detail hereinbelow.

To further simulate competition-type racing, a housing 84, FIGS. 1 and4, having two parallel columns of openings is provided. The purpose ofthe housing is to simluate a Christmas tree starting device which is nowcommonly used in actual drag race competitions. The actual starteroperates by flashing a pair of lights, one from each column, in a serialmanner descending from the two uppermost lights down the housing untilthe lowermost pair of lights are flashed providing the signal to start.The lights are colored so that the uppermost lights are orange while thelowermost lights are green with the lights between being of variousshades along the spectrum from orage to green. Internal mechanisms inthe housing provide the simulated sequencing of lights.

In accordance with another important aspect of the present invention, aroadway is provided which simulates an actual roadway through a hillyterrain, and yet, is inexpensively manufactured by a simple moldingtechnique. Additionally, the roadway is hinged so that it may becollapsed with one portion situated within the remainder so as to lessenthe volume required for the package in which the roadway and/or thehill-climbing system is marketed. Referring now to FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, theroadway is comprised of a curved pathway 90 having a first end dividedinto two sections 92 and 94 and a second end 96 which is positioned at alower height or vertical level than the two sections 92 and 94 of thefirst end which are at the same level. The curved pathway 90 is formedin a terrain support structure 98 which is molded to simulate a rough,hill-like terrain, such as commonly used for motorcycle racing. Theroughness is best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 7. Because of thedifference in height between the first end and the second end of thepathway, a vehicle placed at the first end will move along the slopedpathway due to the force provided by gravity. It is noted that thepathway is split into two sections 93 and 95 corresponding to the twosections of the first end. The pathway sections converge and merge at alocation designated 100 with the pathway continuing toward the secondend having a width sufficient for just one toy vehicle. In this fashion,when there is competition between two vehicles, the winning vehicle willbe that one which first reaches and passes through the merger location.Prior to reaching the merger, the vehicles move along parallel butseparate tracks or pathways; however, once past the merger, the singlevehicle width pathway causes the vehicles to move in a single file.

As shown in FIG. 8, the terrain support structure has two openings 102and 104, located about midway along the curved pathway 90. Emanatingfrom the two openings is a slit 106 which extends from the opening 102to the opening 104 and encompasses the first end of the pathway. Theslit is depicted in the drawing of FIG. 8 as a very dark wide line. Theslit effectively divides the support into a first portion which includesthe two sections of the first end of the pathway and the mergerlocation, and the remaining portion which includes the second end of thepathway and the lower or base terrain portion of the support structure.For purposes of illustration, the first mentioned portion will be termedthe upper portion 108, while the remainder of the support structure willbe termed the lower portion 110, FIG. 7.

The upper portion 108 is movable between two positions, an upperposition as shown in FIG. 7 where the upper portion is essentially abovethe bottom portion and where the first end sections 92 and 94 are at agreater vertical height than the second end 96, and a lower position inwhich the upper portion 108 is pivoted about a hinge formed along animaginary line connecting the two openings 102 and 104 toallow the upperportion to be disposed within the lower portion as illustrated in FIG.9. By comparing FIGS. 7 and 9, which are elevation views, it is quiteclear that the total vertical height of the roadway is reduced by almosthalf when the upper portion is moved to its ower position. Thus, byhaving the upper portion retract into the lower portion, the roadwaybecomes a relatively compact unit which can be much more economicallyand easily packaged for marketlng purposes. Further, the lower portionacts to project the peaks designed into the upper portion. The nestingof the upper portion into the lower portion is easily accomplished sincethe roadway is constructed as a hollow mound or shell form. Thus, theinterior of the shell offers more than sufficient room for the upperportion while the gauge of the roadway allows the simplistic hinge to beformed between the openings 102 and 104.

Attached integrally to the two sections of the first end and the secondend are respectively track section connectors 112, IM and 116, FIG. 8.Referring to FIG. 10, the connection made between the track 32 and thetrack section connector 116 is illustrated in greater detail where thetrack section connector 116 is received within a channel 124 and thus,provides a continuation for the pathway 90. Attached integrally at theend of the pathways 36 and 38 of the launcher are two track sectionconnectors 118 and 120, FIG. 2. Each of the track section connectors arereceivable within the channels formed in the tracks 28, 30 and 32, FIG.1, in a fashion more completely described in the abovementioned patentto Nash, et al. Thus, it is now apparent how easy it is to achieve thesystem layout illustrated in FIG. 1 where the roadway 24 is positionedsome 25 to 30 inches above the floor 122 on which is positioned thelauncher 22.

In accordance with still another important aspect of the presentinvention, a combination support and track section connector is providedfor supporting the roadway in its non-collapsed or non-nested positionas shown in FIG. 7, while at the same time, cooperating to moresubstantially connect and align a track section to the roadway.Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, there is illustrated a support and tracksection connector 126 which is comprised of a first flat portion 128 forengaging the channel of a track section and a second portion 130 whichis disposed perpendicular to the first portion 128 and integral at oneend with the first portion. At the other end of the second portion 130is a U-shaped section 132 having two legs 134 and 136 and a base 138.The U-shaped section 132 is attached integrally to the second portion insuch a fashion that a top surface 140 of the base 138 forms a shoulder.As more clearly shown in FIG. 11, the upper rim 141 of the lower portion110 of the roadway formed by the slit 106 is received within the channelshaped confines of the U- shaped section so that the support and tracksection connector may be mounted to the lower portion 110. The shouldersurface 140 acts as a ledge on which to receive the rim 142 of the upperportion 108 and thus acts as a relatively wide support surface for theupper portion of the roadway when the roadway is set up in operation,such as shown in FIG. 7. The first portion 128 of the connector alignswith the roadway track section connector 112 to help align andstrengthen the connection made to the track 30 so as to act as anextension of the pathway 90. To provide an optimum nonslip connectionbetween the first portion 128 and the track, the first portion haslongitudinal peripheral edges 131 and 133 having a series ofprotuberances 135 and 137-, respectively. The connected track 30 alsofunctions as an anchor to firmly bias the upper portion 108 of theroadway onto the shoulder surface 140, thereby assuring a stableroadway.

In accordance with yet another important feature of the presentinvention, there is disclosed a toy vehicle with freely rotating wheelswhich are easily movable along the track and roadway system and whichclosely simulates a full-sized motorcycle. Nevertheless, the vehicle canbe inexpensively manufactured while retaining an extremely ruggedconstruction. Referring now to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the vehicle 82 iscomprised of a simulated motorcycle body of a molded synthetic resinmaterial attached to two rotatable large wheels 152 and 154. Removablyattached to the vehicle body 150 is a relatively flat vehicle base 156having a forward recess 158 and a rearward recess 160 to accommodate thewheels 152 and 154, respectively. The connection between the vehiclebase 156 and the vehicle body 150 may be achieved by any convenientfastening means such as the screw 162. I

Attached to the vehicle base are four relatively small and freelyrotatable wheels 164, 166, 168 and 170. Each of the wheels is mounted toa small diameter wire, such as the wire 172 connected to the wheel 164,the wire 173 connected to the wheel 166, the wire 175 connected to thewheel 168 and the wire 177 connected to the wheel 170; the wires are inturn embedded in cylindrical receivers 165, 167, 169 and 171,respectively, integral with the vehicle base 156. The vehicle base isflexible to allow vertical movement of the wheels without damaging thesmall diameter wire axles. It is to be noted that each of the smallwheels 164, 166, 168 and 170 has a relatively wide smaller diameterportion and a narrow larger diameter portion. As is more fully explainedin the above-mentioned La Branche, et al. patent, the smaller therunning surface of the vehicle in contact with the running surface ofthe roadway, the lower the friction upon the vehicle; and, therefore,the lower the drag on the vehicles movement. It is also noted that thesidewalls 174 and 176 of the pathway 36 are obliquely disposed so thatany contact between the wheels and the sidewalls will be along a minimumof wheel area thereby again keeping drag to a minimum. The larger wheels152 and 154 are mounted so that they do not come into contact with therunning surface. This is clearly shown in FIG. 6; once again, thepurpose of the spacing is to insure a minimum of friction and therebydrag to the moving vehicle.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated the realistic effectwhich can be achieved by the toy hillclimbing system of the presentinvention. Once the launcher imparts motion to the toy vehicle 82 andthe vehicle moves up the inclined track 30, abruptly changing thedirection of the track from an upward slope to a relatively horizontalposition causes the propelled vehicle to leave the track in a jumpingfashion. This is very analogous to an actual motorcycle hill-climb wherethere is a tendency of the vehicle to leave the ground upon reaching thetop of the hill. Stability of the motorcycle is no problem because ofthe addition of the vehicle base and four wheels to the vehicle body.Thus, since the track 30 and the pathway 90 are aligned, the vehiclewill simply jump over a portion of the track and pathway, land on thepathway and continue along.

In operation, the roadway 24 is set up with two support and tracksection connectors 126, one each attached adjacent the two sections 92and 94 of the first end of the pathway 90; the upper portion of theroadway is placed in the upper position so that the roadway assumes theprofile shown in FIG. 7. The roadway is placed at an elevated positionrelative to the launcher 22, such as upon a table top with the launcherremaining on the floor; track sections are connected to a suitablelength to create the tracks 28, 30 and 32. Two vehicles may then beplaced adjacent the two pusher arms 40 and 42 of the launcher while therespective knobs are rotated so as to increase the tautness of theelastic bands. Upon an appropriate signal, the latching mechanism isdepressed to allow the biasing force of the elastic bands to catapultthe vehicles along the parallel tracks 28 and 30. This is accomplishedby having the vehicle engaging end portion 78 engage the cylindricalreceivers 165, 167, FIGS. 4 and 6. Upon reaching the crest of the tracksand before entering the pathway 90, the vehicles will leave the trackmomentarily in ajumping or leaping fashion and return to the track andcontinue along the pathway 90. The first vehicle to reach and passthrough the merger 100 and lead the single file around the remainingportion of the pathway is considered the winner of the competition.Because of the force of gravity, the vehicles will move from the pathwayto the track 32 and return to floor level. It is to be understood thatthe launcher 22 may be used with only one vehicle or that a singlelauncher, using the same principles as that described for the duallauncher 22 may be provided when race competition is not desired.

Thus, what has been described is an inexpensive, yet highly exciting,simulated motorcycle hill-climbing system which is rugged, yet simplyconstructed and easily operated.

We claim:

I. A toy hill-climbing system comprising:

a toy vehicle launcher located at a first level;

at least one track section having a first end and a second end, saidlauncher connected to said first end of said track section; and

a roadway located within simulated rough terrain,

said roadway connected to said second end of said track section andpositioned at a second level of substantially greater height than saidfirst level, at least a portion of said track section having an upwardlysloping disposition.

2. A system, as claimed in claim 1, including a toy vehicle adapted tobe propelled by said launcher along said track section and on to saidroadway.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherien:

said roadway comprises a curved pathway having a first end at a leveldifferent from the level of the second end;

means for supporting said curved pathway with its ends at differentlevels, said supporting means being integral with said curved pathwayand made of synthetic resin material, wherein a portion of said curvedpathway including said first end and a portion of said supporting meansare movable between two positions, an upper position wherein saidportions of said supporting means and said pathway are disposedessentially above the remainder of said supporting means and saidpathway are disposed within the remainder of said supporting means. 4. Asystem, as claimed in Claim 1, inculding a support and track sectionconnector comprising:

a first portion for engaging a track section; and a second portiondisposed essentially perpendicular 60 to said first portion andconnected at one end to said first portion, said second portion having aU- shaped second end whereby said connector cooperates to support aroadway and connect the roadway to a track section. 5. A system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said launcher comprises:

a supporting base including a pathway;

means slideably connected to said supporting base and movable along saidpathway for engaging said toy vehicle;

an elastic band connected to said supporting base and to said vehicleengaging means for imparting motion to said vehicle engaging means; and

means for latching said vehicle engaging means to sleectively preventmovement of said vehicle engaging means.

6. A system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said vehicle comprises:

a vehicle body;

at least two large wheels mounted to said body;

a base removably attached to said vehicle body; and

four small freely rotatable wheels mounted to said base, two wheels oneach side of said base, whereby said toy vehicle is adapted totransverse along a track system on said four small wheels and saidlarger wheels are spaced away from the track system.

7. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said roadway comprises a curved pathway having a first end at a leveldifferent from the level of a second end;

means for supporting said curved pathway with its ends at differentlevels, said supporting means being integral with said curved pathwayand made of synthetic resin material;

a portion of said curved pathway, including said first end and a portionof said supporting means are movable between two positions, an upperposition wherein said portion of said supporting means and the first endof said pathway are disposed essentially above the remaining portion ofthe said supporting means and the second end of said pathway is disposedwithin the remaining portion of said supporting means;

said launcher comprises a supporting base, including a pathway, meansslideably connected to said supporting base and movable along saidpathway for engaging said toy vehicle, an elastic band connected to saidsupporting base and to said vehicle engaging means for imparting motionto said vehicle engaging means, and means for latching said vehicleengaging means; and including:

a support and track section connector comprising a first portion forengaging a track section; and

a second portion disposed essentially perpendicular to said firstportion and connected at one end to said first portion, said secondportion having a U- shaped second end for supporting said roadway in itsupper position.

1. A toy hill-climbing system comprising: a toy vehicle launcher locatedat a first level; at least one track section having a first end and asecond end, said launcher connected to said first end of said tracksection; and a roadway located within simulated rough terrain, saidroadway connected to said second end of said track section andpositioned at a second level of substantially greater height than saidfirst level, at least a portion of said track section having an upwardlysloping disposition.
 2. A system, as claimed in claim 1, including a toyvehicle adapted to be propelled by said launcher along said tracksection and on to said roadway.
 3. A system as claimed in claim 1wherien: said roadway comprises a curved pathway having a first end at alevel different from the level of the second end; means for supportingsaid curved pathway with its ends at different levels, said supportingmeans being integral with said curved pathway and made of syntheticresin material, wherein a portion of said curved pathway including saidfirst end and a portion of said supporting means are movable between twopositions, an upper position wherein said portions of said supportingmeans and said pathway are disposed essentially above the remainder ofsaid supporting means and said pathway are disposed within the remainderof said supporting means.
 4. A system, as claimed in Claim 1, inculdinga support and track section connector comprising: a first portion forengaging a track section; and a second portion disposed essentiallyperpendicular to said first portion and connected at one end to saidfirst portion, said second portion having a U-shaped second end wherEbysaid connector cooperates to support a roadway and connect the roadwayto a track section.
 5. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidlauncher comprises: a supporting base including a pathway; meansslideably connected to said supporting base and movable along saidpathway for engaging said toy vehicle; an elastic band connected to saidsupporting base and to said vehicle engaging means for imparting motionto said vehicle engaging means; and means for latching said vehicleengaging means to sleectively prevent movement of said vehicle engagingmeans.
 6. A system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said vehiclecomprises: a vehicle body; at least two large wheels mounted to saidbody; a base removably attached to said vehicle body; and four smallfreely rotatable wheels mounted to said base, two wheels on each side ofsaid base, whereby said toy vehicle is adapted to transverse along atrack system on said four small wheels and said larger wheels are spacedaway from the track system.
 7. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:said roadway comprises a curved pathway having a first end at a leveldifferent from the level of a second end; means for supporting saidcurved pathway with its ends at different levels, said supporting meansbeing integral with said curved pathway and made of synthetic resinmaterial; a portion of said curved pathway, including said first end anda portion of said supporting means are movable between two positions, anupper position wherein said portion of said supporting means and thefirst end of said pathway are disposed essentially above the remainingportion of the said supporting means and the second end of said pathwayis disposed within the remaining portion of said supporting means; saidlauncher comprises a supporting base, including a pathway, meansslideably connected to said supporting base and movable along saidpathway for engaging said toy vehicle, an elastic band connected to saidsupporting base and to said vehicle engaging means for imparting motionto said vehicle engaging means, and means for latching said vehicleengaging means; and including: a support and track section connectorcomprising a first portion for engaging a track section; and a secondportion disposed essentially perpendicular to said first portion andconnected at one end to said first portion, said second portion having aU-shaped second end for supporting said roadway in its upper position.